This is fair, and I even agree to an extent. However, Wes's post was written in direct response to a comparison made to Mike Shula from RWS. Would you agree that Chizik's performance as Wes described it, is a fair response to Mike Shula's career at Tampa Bay?
I can't help but believe that you temper Chizik's success at Auburn, and Texas in an effort to solidify your position overall that he's not HC material. I'm not saying he's a world beater, but I find it hard to believe that Gene Chizik just rode an incredible wave of circumstance and talent to where he is at this point alone. He could have, certainly. I just don't believe that until I see what results he produces. He may very well be Auburn's anti-Christ. I just don't believe there's ANY way of knowing that yet.
I don't care about Mike Shula one way or another. What he did or didn't do has no bearing on my thinking toward Chizik at all. There is the obvious similarity of the confused deer in the headlights look they both had while on the sidelines. I don't think I've ever seen two people wear dumber expressions, but that's as far as that goes.
What Chizik did as a defensive coordinator has no bearing on his ability to be a head coach. I'd be happy to have him back as DC (except for the fact that he took shots at Auburn when he left and should NEVER be allowed to set foot on Jordan Hare turf again except as an enemy, that I just can't get past).
That is my point. In his one effort to BE a head coach he was an abject failure. You can skew the numbers any way you want, but the fact is that McCarney had the program on as solid a footing as it had ever been. Chizik booted it back to the stone age and did so with shocking swiftness.
Some great assistants turn into great head coaches. Mark Richt, for one. Some don't. Sylvester Croom, Mike Shula, Mike DuBose, Ron Zook, etc.
Using his resume as DC and ignoring his freakishly bad experience as HC doesn't make logical sense to me. I could see a Tulane or Southern Miss or UAB taking a chance on a guy like that and hoping he would improve. But we are Auburn. Bringing him in, particularly to a league that boasts Meyer, Richt, Saban, Nutt, Petrino, Johnson, Brooks, Spurrier and Miles was offensive. It was the rinkiest of dink. No palatable justification was ever offered by the administration. No reasonable explanation was given. Jay Jacobs tied our football future to his "hunch." That's not good enough for me. That's why I say the hire will always be a bad one.
Sometimes you make a mistake and it turns out okay for you. Maybe you have a one-night stand with a fat, ugly chick and get her pregnant. Her dad forces you to get married. Later on she loses weight, has plastic surgery and ends up looking pretty hot. Your kid turns out okay. She can cook a little. So it turns out fine. But crawling in bed with the hippo was STILL a mistake.
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